This one’s pure comfort. The kind of meal that makes the house smell like someone whose cooking that good stuff. A butterflied chicken, drowned in BLAK EMBER until the skin blisters, caramelises, and goes that deep red. It’s sweet, smoky, spicy, and absolutely not your nan’s Sunday roast, unless your nan chain-smokes, drinks tequila for breakfast, and once got fingered behind a Wetherspoons.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 whole chicken (about 1.6 kg), spatchcocked
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 3 tbsp BLAK EMBER
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt and cracked black pepper
• 4 tbsp raw honey
Method
Lay the chicken breast-side down and cut along both sides of the backbone. Remove it, then press down on the breast until it cracks and sits flat.
Pat the chicken dry with paper towel. Rub it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Leave uncovered in the fridge for at least an hour to dry the skin.
Melt the butter, honey, whisk in BLAK EMBER, garlic, and lemon juice until smooth.
Heat the oven or BBQ to 200°C. Place the chicken skin-side up on a rack or tray and roast for 45–50 minutes, brushing with the glaze every 10 minutes.
In the last 5 minutes, hit it with one last glaze and turn the heat to 220°C. You want it bubbling and caramelised. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Chef’s Notes
• Dry skin - crisp skin. Leave the chicken in the fridge uncovered OVER NIGHT before cooking.
• Don’t skip the basting. That’s how you get layers of flavour and colour.
• A baking rack keeps the bird lifted, so the air circulates and crisps the underside too.
• Save leftover glaze. It’s unreal DRIZZLED OVER A CRUMBLEY SHARP CHEDDAR.
• For BBQ, cook over indirect heat for 45 minutes, then finish over flames for colour.
